“If our companies want to do something, and at some stage, when they come to us we will take a good look at at it," the minister told reporters here. He was responding to a question on whether the government would allow state-run energy companies if they plan to invest in assets exited by European majors amid the Ukraine conflict.
He, however, added that it is up to the companies to explore investment opportunities.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British energy giant BP announced to exit its 19.75% shareholding in Russian energy company Rosneft. Similarly, Shell announced to exit its joint ventures with Gazprom and related entities and France-based TotalEnergies announced to cease providing capital for new projects in Russia.
As the sanctions by the US and European Union have hit the country hard and with global energy giants exiting the country, Russia also urged India to deepen its investments in the its oil and gas sector.
Indian public sector hold stakes in Russian oil and gas fields, while Russian entities including Rosneft own a majority stake in Indian refiner Nayara Energy.
Speaking on the high oil prices, the minister on Thursday said that India would ask major oil exporting countries to supply more oil due to inflationary concerns. He also said that there is no shortage of energy in the country.
“Our responsibility is primarily to the consumers. The prime minister has ensured that there is no shortage of energy supply. In the so far as the international market is concerned, we will use our margin of persuasion to try and convince people that they should put more energy into the market because... a challenging international environment means there is a global inflationary scenario," he said, adding that the government is focused on getting access to energy at affordable prices.
Talking on petrol and diesel prices, Puri said: “We are in a situation where we have controlled them to the extent we can control them."
As petrol prices were above the three figure mark across major cities, centre on May 21 decided to lower the excise duty on petrol and duty by ₹8 and ₹6 per litre, respectively. The move resulted in a fall in retail fuel prices in the country.
On Thursday, petrol in Delhi was priced at ₹96.72 per litre and diesel is sold for ₹89.62 a litre, unchanged since the last revision on May 22.
